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Computers, Peripherals & Software
ELECTRONICS 1999
Electronics Purchasing
INSIDE PURCHASING
Job Scene
MRO/DISTRIBUTION - AmEx, Visa partner with e-commerce providers
BRIEFS - General Tool & Supply, Portland, Ore., has merged with Industrial Tool & Supply, Tucson, Ariz.
- Motion Industries has formed a joint venture with Refacciones Industriales de Mexico (rimsa), a bearing and power transmission specialist in Mexico City.
- imark Group, a member-owned marketing group serving more than 180 independent electrical distributors has added three new members:
- I.D. One has selected two industrial supplies distributors as new members:
- Eastern Industrial Supplies, a pipe, valve, and fitting distributor
- FiberVisions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hercules Inc. based in Covington Ga., has entered into an agreement with Material Management & Services, Inc.
NEWS - MRO purchasing plays role in reshaping the distribution channel
Office Products & Business Systems
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PRODUCT UPDATE
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Purchasing Hotline
PURCHASING HOTLINE - Be sure to enter Purchasing's Welcome Booklet contest.
- Expect 16-megabit drams to become scarce over next two years.
- Don't expect any taxes on e-commerce for awhile, at least
- Most ERP systems don't pay back what they cost,
- Look for Samsung to devote more production capacity to Rambus drams.
- Think your small suppliers may not be ready for Year 2000?
- Are you up to the competitive challenges of the electronics marketplace?
- Watch out for Y2K fraud.
- Expect prices for power management ICs to drop through rest of year.
- Are you able to squeeze out waste in office buying?
- Improve supplier relations if you want to get the most out of your IT spend,
- Beware of bogus office supply firms!
- Keep an eye on efforts of group trying to establish self-declared internationally recognized standards for high-technology products.
- Get up to speed on the Internet
- IBM's new electronic commerce product
- Expect fuel cells for small business power generation to be available by 2001.
- Keep an eye on efforts of European regulators to codify so-called "Taca-2" settlement.
ECONOMY - The U.S. won't see another recession until 2002 or beyond
- U.S. import price index gained a tenth of a point in March
- The U.S. goods trade deficit continued to set records
- Two factors--an apparent U.S. manufacturing rally plus a tentative turnaround in world oil prices
- Calculations from Thinking Cap Solutions in Port Angeles, Wash., show that for the twelve months ending March, biggest wholesale (PPI) price declines
- Plant operating rates for manufacturing declined appreciably in first-quarter 1999
Markets - The world will soon be flooded with cheap and surprisingly powerful PCs
- Only a big demand surge or major production cuts could ease the copper supply surplus
- Based on continued strong demand in the U.S. and Canada, Navistar International has raised its demand forecast
- Harris Corp. plans to spin off its Lanier Worldwide office systems unit
- FirstMiss Steel will cease melting operations at Hollsopple, Pa.
- In a classic example of "worst to first," US Airways has emerged as the top-ranked U.S. carrier for passenger service
- U.S. steel mills shipped 15.3 million net tons of steel in the first two months of 1999
- DuPont will spend $275 million on a new Teflon development and manufacturing facility
- Tenneco is selling its five-plant folding carton business to Caraustar Industries.
- EPA's plan to phase in low-sulfur gasoline beginning in 2004 will be difficult and costly
- W&O Supply of Jacksonville, Fla., a distributor of marine valves, pipe, fittings, and metals, has been purchased
- Lucent Technologies will open a research facility at North Carolina State University next spring
- Toyota and General Motors have reached a five-year agreement to develop cars and trucks powered by fuel cells
- North American demand for lumber and plywood is expected to remain strong for at least two more quarters
- Fairchild Semiconductor has completed its $450-million purchase of Samsung Electronic's Power Device Division
Prices - Visit Purchasing Online (www. purchasing.com) to enter Purchasing's 1999 Crystal Ball
- Polystyrene (PS) market leader Nova Chemicals and other producers are pushing for a 4¢/lb increase
- Computer equipment maker Hewlett-Packard has cut prices on several notebook computers
- Sellers are quoting benchmark northern bleached softwood kraft (nbsk) at $525 this month
- The spot-market average price for cold-rolled steel sheet is nowhere near the $400-$410/ton claimed by integrated mills
- London Metal Exchange aluminum averaged 54¢/lb in first-quarter 1999
- Overcapacity and intensifying competition have lowered nylon prices since late 1998 by an average 10¢/lb
- Four major North American producers of corrugating medium have proposed price increases for May-June
- Canadian newsprint maker Donohue says it expects prices to remain under downward pressure for the near term.
- Shipments and prices of corrugated containers, folding cartons, and industrial bags hit bottom in first-quarter 1999
- Two of North America's largest unsaturated polyester resins producers have announced price increases.
- North American uncoated free-sheet commodity paper prices gained $40/ton in April
- Unbleached 42-lb kraft linerboard appears to have stabilized at $380-$390/ton in the East and $380-$400/ton in the West.
- Gold traded in a narrow range of $285-$295/oz throughout the first quarter,
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